Kusamakura tabi naru sode ni oku tsuyu o miyako no hito ya yūbe ni miyuran

草枕旅なる袖に置く露を
都の人や夕に見ゆらん

Roma-ji: Kusamakura tabi naru sode ni oku tsuyu o miyako no hito ya yūbe ni miyuran
English Translation: With grass for a pillow,
the dew that settles on my sleeves
as I journey on—
do the people of the capital
see it in the evening light?
Meaning: The dew that settles on my sleeves as I sleep pillowed on grass along the road—do the people in the capital picture it in the evening?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1099

Headnote: "Composing poems on travel"
Composed on the theme of travel. Do the people in the capital, at evening, picture the dew settling on my traveling sleeves as I sleep pillowed on grass? the poet wonders.
The dew on a traveler's sleeves is both the dew of sleeping in the open and the tears of travel. Evening is the hour for thinking of others, and he wonders whether those in the capital think of him then. A sequence of travel poems follows.

First line, “kusamakura”: "grass pillow," a pillow word for "journey."
Second line, “tabi naru sode ni”: on sleeves out on the road.
Third line, “oku tsuyu o”: the dew that settles, both field dew and the tears of travel.
Fourth line, “miyako no hito ya”: ya questions, answered by the attributive ran in the fifth line.
Fifth line, “yūbe ni miyuran”: might they picture it at evening; the text has "夕に," read yūbe ni as in the reading line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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